Museveni preaches forgiveness
http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Museveni+preaches+forgiveness/-/688334/1441508/-/4elb9p/-/index.html
By PAUL ARUHO
Posted Monday, July 2 2012 at 01:00
President Museveni at the weekend spoke of the need for a spirit of
forgiveness and reconciliation if the country is to heal from the wounds
inflicted by past political mistakes. Mr Museveni was on Saturday speaking at the celebration of 110 years of Mzee Asanasiyo Rutibirayo, the father of Mr Chris Rwakasisi, a senior presidential advisor on security, in Kabwohe Town Council, Sheema District.
At the same function, area MP Dr Elioda Tumwesigye asked the President to stand again in 2016 pledging his constituency’s support. He said what happened in Bushenyi/Ishaka Municipality by-election, where an opposition candidate was elected, will not spread to the region.
“The current wars in NRM should not divert you from the good plans you have for this nation. NRM will remain strong in this region and we shall contain what happened in Bushenyi, it will not spread in the region,” Mr Tumwesigye said.
The thanksgiving ceremony was also used to acknowledge the release of former security minister in the Obote II government, Mr Rwakasisi, who spent two decades on death row in Luzira prison before benefitting from a presidential pardon in 2009.
“Uganda was crashed like a gourd. We had politics which were based on religion and tribes, which the NRM government has ably addressed. And I am telling this to the people of NRM that there is time for everything. You cannot keep angry forever,” Mr Museveni said.
A number of dignitaries from NRM and Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) members attended the celebration. They included: Rtd. Maj. Edward Rurangaranga, Mr Sam Kahindi, Mr Richard Kaijuka, Prof. Ephraim Kamuntu, Mr Yorokamu Bashasha, Eng. Yorokamu Katwiremu and Ms Rosemary Nyakikongoro and health minister Christine Ondoa.
Mr Museveni said many people had urged him not to attend the function saying the UPC government caused the death of their relatives. But he said it is not good to keep angry with those who wronged you forever.
“Very many people are still angry (with what UPC did). We killed people who belonged to UPC and they also killed ours. But after the war, God gave NRM a chance to be in government which he never gave to others. We are against revenge which we have preached for all these years we have been in power,” hei said.
The President said the government is the only institution that has authority to kill but not individuals. He said the reason why UPC failed was because authority was given to nearly everyone who could execute it. “You cannot be in permanent enmity. Rwakasisi could have made personal mistakes but his relatives did not. We are here not to aggravate problems but to minimise them,” Mr Museveni said.
Speaking in Runyakore and quoting Bible verses, the President wondered why many Ugandans are not ready to reconcile yet the majority are Christians and Muslims. He said he did not sign Mr Rwakasisi’s death warrant because he listened to the voice of God. Mr Museveni revealed that he seeks God’s guidance when confronted with situations like he faced in Rwakasisi matter.
Mr Rwakasisi said he was thankful to Mr Museveni for giving him another chance to live.
“I am a loyal man. I loved President Obote very much but when I came from prison, I found he was no longer the President and had already died. Many people here may take it differently but Museveni is the best President Uganda has ever had. He has mastered certain ways of making anxious people feel comfortable,” Mr Rwakasisi said.
Earlier, Mr Museveni commissioned Kihunda Health Centre III in Kagango Sub-county. At the health centre, he told residents and local leaders to stop concentrating on requesting for service delivery only but to think of wealth creation too.
Museveni
attacks Mukula over Raila money
Sunday, 01 July 2012 22:01
President Museveni has accused a senior NRM figure, Capt Mike Mukula, of receiving huge sums of money to run a sabotage campaign on behalf of Kenya’s Prime Minister Raila Odinga at the just concluded East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) elections in Arusha.
“I have intelligence reports that you received money from Raila to bribe delegates at Arusha. This is the same money Francis Babu used to bribe delegates from other East African countries to support the bid of his wife,” Museveni was quoted as having said during a meeting he called at his countryside home in Rwakitura, Kiruhura district.
Highly placed sources in the ruling party who attended the meeting confirmed to The Observer that the President made this accusation. Babu, the NRM vice chairman for Kampala region, was in Arusha to drum up support for his wife, Margaret Zziwa, who was eventually elected EALA Speaker. Mukula was one of Zziwa’s key campaigners.
It is not clear yet at what stage Odinga picked interest in the election, but sources claim he wanted to humiliate Uganda. Eventually, the incident was a diplomatic embarrassment to Uganda in the region. Museveni called the Rwakitura meeting to reconcile with the Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga and Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi, both of whom he had sharply criticised during the NRM caucus meeting of June 18 at State House, Entebbe.
This latest accusation could likely touch off a diplomatic row between the two countries and dent the notoriously fickle relationship between Museveni and Odinga. Mukula, who is NRM vice chairperson for the eastern region, was present during the Rwakitura meeting, which was also attended by members of the party’s highest organ, the Central Executive Committee (CEC).
Mukula vehemently denied the accusations. He said although he and Odinga were friends, at no time did he receive money from the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader for the EALA speakership election. We understand that the camaraderie of Mukula, a former junior Health minister and Odinga, who is leading in opinion polls ahead of Kenya’s presidential polls in 2013, has become a source of numerous investigations by intelligence organs.
Last year, Mukula hosted Odinga for his victory celebrations at his home in Soroti municipality, following his election to Parliament. Odinga returned the favour when he invited Mukula, alongside Museveni, to the launch of a new regional university in Kisumu early this year. Mukula, who has not ruled out contesting for the presidency in 2016, was quoted by the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks as having revealed to former US ambassador to Uganda, Jerry Lanier, that Museveni was grooming his son, Col Muhoozi Kainerugaba, to succeed him.
However, Mukula last week denied having been accused at the Rwakitura meeting.
“No; that is not correct. We didn’t go to discuss anything to do with money,” he told The Observer on phone.
Babu also denied receiving a war-chest from Odinga to support his wife. However, Babu, a former junior Housing minister, said he had no choice but to back his wife because Kadaga and Mbabazi were supporting Dora Byamukama for the EALA speakership.
“I don’t want to speak about Rwakitura and you know the meeting was closed. Please, I will not say anything,” Babu told The Observer.
The acting NRM whip, Daudi Migereko and his deputy, David Bahati, did not return our calls. Kadaga and Mbabazi, whom the president recently criticised for anointing Byamukama as the NRM flag bearer for the EALA speakership without seeking the caucus’ consent, reportedly fought valiantly at the meeting to clear their names. They told Museveni that they were not to blame for the fiasco in Arusha because they had fruitlessly tried for five days to seek audience with him.
A source claims that Mbabazi told the President that he had telephoned him for five days in a bid to seek his opinion on who should be the flag bearer without any success. He later consulted the minister in charge of East African Community Affairs, Eriya Kategaya, on the matter. It was then, Mbabazi said, that the NRM decided to back the consensus candidate after an internal poll amongst EALA delegates from Uganda voted overwhelmingly in favour of Byamukama.
On her part, Kadaga said by the time she travelled to Arusha, she was only aware of one NRM flag bearer — Byamukama. Kadaga added that although she went to Arusha, her objective was not to campaign for Byamukama.
Museveni, taken aback by the recent fissures and jockeying within the party, then said it appears that the relationship between Kadaga and Mbabazi had thawed. Kadaga, Mbabazi, Migereko and Bahati were reportedly seated at the same side of the table. In response, Kadaga reportedly said she had never had a problem with the prime minister and that media reports indicating the contrary had been peddled by people with their own agendas.
mutaizibwa@observer.ug
Museveni 5th
term Bid launched in Sheema
Sunday, 01 July 2012 21:58
Mr Museveni had just commissioned Kihunda health centre III in Kagango sub-county, Sheema district, when Tumwesigye made his move. The youth leaders gave President Museveni a spear and a stool and urged him to sit on the stool and hold the spear. These traditional instruments are symbols of power in the culture of Ankole and many other parts of Uganda.
Museveni has ruled Uganda since 1986 and by 2016, he will have been in power for 30 years. Although various political, religious and civil society leaders have urged the president to retire in 2016, to allow peaceful transition to new leadership, Saturday’s events must have pulled his thoughts in a totally different direction.
“The president, after receiving these traditional tools of power from Sheema district youth leaders, hereby launches the fifth term bid for presidency,” Tumwesigye said.
“As you know, the youth are the majority voters; therefore, if they throw their weight behind the president together with other Ugandans, the president will win,” he added.
He implored Museveni not to worry about walk-to-work activities of the opposition because he still had solid support in Uganda.
While acknowledging NRM’s recent loss of the Bushenyi-Ishaka municipality parliamentary seat to FDC’s Odo Tayebwa, the first such loss in Museveni’s Ankole home sub-region, Tumwesigye swore the precedent would be contained and not be allowed to extend to any other constituency in the sub-region. In his speech, Museveni never commented on the launched 2016 presidential bid; he only thanked the people for voting him overwhelmingly in the 2011 presidential elections.
As the president commissioned the Kihunda health centre and visited former UPC strongman Chris Rwakasisi, in Rutooma village, Kabwohe-Itendero town council, Sheema district, the Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, attended a fundraising function at Nkinga SS, Mitooma district, invited by Maj Gen Kahinda Otafiire. Sheema and Mitooma districts were carved out of Bushenyi district in June 2010.
At Kihunda, Museveni urged people to concentrate on wealth creation as government works on service delivery. He warned men who spend all the time drinking alcohol, playing cards and leave the work of production to women. He warned them to rethink and embark on development. Museveni also warned people against listening to radios and political bimeezas (call-in programmes) all the time. “By the way, Mengo [seat of Buganda Kingdom] spoilt its youth by involving them in listening to talk shows and bimeezas instead of engaging in development,” he said.
“I have taken many months without listening to radios and I am going on well with my usual work,” Museveni added.
He said those who stole money meant for local councillors’ bicycles had been arrested and the bicycles would soon reach the intended beneficiaries. This statement was prompted by a plea by the chairperson LC1 of the area who complained of lack of transport while doing his work.
Museveni pledged to extend electricity to Kihunda health centre III and surrounding areas, and an ambulance for the district.
wmuhwezi@yahoo.com
DPP Clears Kabakumba Of Mast Theft
http://redpepper.co.ug/welcome/?p=40306
By Stanley Ndawula:
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has
cleared former Information Minister Kabakumba Masiko of UBC
mast theft charges, leaving police detectives who
believe the Bunyoro princess was a prime suspect in the case in anguish.
The DPP has instead charged UBC engineer, Godfrey
Luggya and King’s Broadcasting Services (KBS) manager Harrison Busingye Magezi,
with theft and fraudulent appropriation of power, contrary to sections 254, 261
and 283 of the Penal Code Act respectively. The duo is set to appear in court
today, according to police sources.
“It is true the DPP found Hon. Kabakumba with no
wrong, simply because we allegedly did not prove her knowledge of the stolen
gadgets in her broadcasting company. We believed it is her not us to prove her
innocence before courts but it is unfortunate that the DPP seems not to read
from the same page with us,” Judith Nabakooba, the deputy police mouthpiece
told this reporter.
Contacted for further proof, the Criminal
Investigations Directorate (CID) boss AIGP Grace Akullo equally revealed that
to their shock, Kabakumba, who owns KBS where UBC transmitters and other
gadgets were recovered, was found ‘innocent’ of any wrong doing. But we did our
part and we do not regret for believing she entirely knew the fraudulent
transactions. Period,” the visibly angered Akullo said yesterday.
According to the charge-sheet, Luggya, the UBC
operations manager permitted Kabakumba’s Radio (KBS) to illegally use UBC
generator, transmitters, mast and power house for over three years (2007-2011)
without any payments, an act he committed in full knowledge that it would lead
to financial loss against his employer.
And Busingye is charged with fraudulent diversion
of electric power in favour of KBS at Kigulya Hill in Masindi District. The
said power was derived from UBC generator and UMEME whose bills were for all
the years, cleared by UBC. It is also stated that Busingye, in August 2010
stole a transmitter number 10EE 2513 and installed it in KBS.
“If she did not sanction the fraud, how did she
think her radio functioned without paying for crucial items like power, mast
and the transmitters?” wondered an arguably irritated detective privy with the
case. Kabakumba, who resigned her ministerial position amidst pressure from all
corners over the case, could not be reached for a comment yesterday as our
calls went unanswered.
